The present invention relates to self-service kiosks and more specifically to a method of downloading web content to a network kiosk in advance.
Retailers have a desire to sell their products over networks, such as global networks which are a part of the World Wide Web (WWW or “web”) and which use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP protocol). These retailers wish to provide Internet server web sites which offer the same features as Internet server web sites available to home shoppers who use their computers to connect to the Internet server web sites.
Kiosks provide a publicly-accessible computing platform for displaying web pages and other web-delivered content from retailer web sites. Kiosks may be located within a retailer's transaction establishment or elsewhere, such as in shopping malls. Kiosks may be easily networked to retailer web sites using the TCP/IP protocol. Web pages from web sites may be displayed using known and available web software, such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer software.
One problem with current global network service is bandwidth limitations. Bandwidth generally varies by type of connection, network usage levels, and time of day. Service problems are complicated by the fact that web pages differ in amount of content and web content differs in size. For example, a typical web page contains text, graphic images, and pointers or hypertext links to other web pages or content. However, web content may motion video files, which due to their size take significantly longer to download, even over high-speed or “T” series lines.
Various general methods of downloading web content are available today. Web browser software applications typically have the ability to store previously downloaded web content in temporary or cache files so that the same content need not be downloaded again the next time the web content is accessed. However, such methods are intended for general purpose operation and thus do not completely serve the needs of retailers. In particular, retailers do not want customers to walk away from their kiosks because web content is arriving to slowly.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a downloading method which relies on configuration information suited to the needs of retailers. It would also be desirable to provide a downloading method which can be configured by time of day.